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Crime & Courts

Parents Charged After 5-Year-Old Autistic Daughter's Death; Case Remains Open

John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, face charges of unlawfully placing a child at risk or wilfully abandoning a child in connection with the death of Saylor Hayes, according to Us Weekly.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Sep 2, 2026, 11:13 a.m. ETWritten Sep 11, 2026, 8:22 a.m. ET
John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, have been with unlawfully placing a child at risk or wilfully abandoning a child, Us Weekly reported on September 2, 2026. The case remains open and developing, and the charges are allegations; the defendants have not been tried and are presumed innocent. The government claims the two put Saylor Hayes, a severely nonverbal, autistic 5-year-old with a known affinity to water and a history of elopement, at an unreasonable risk of harm affecting her life and safety by failing to provide supervision and safeguards appropriate for her, according to Us Weekly. The government further claims they encouraged search efforts to be directed toward the use of tracking technology despite knowing the child was not wearing the monitoring device, and directed search efforts away from the nearby body of water, Us Weekly reported. The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office is the investigating agency, according to Us Weekly. The proceeding is at the charging stage. No cause of death or further findings have been established in the reporting.

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  1. Version 111 Sept 2026, 12:22current

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